Forms of the false deities
Forms of the false deities
Allaah The Almighty is the owner of all and superb perfection, beauty and majesty. He The Almighty with the glory and greatness is described and with the beautiful attributes and sublime names is known. He is of great estimation and great status. Glory and praise be to Him.
Surely, one finds all what are worshiped besides Allaah The Almighty imperfect, mean, powerless, poor, or one finds them perishable and mortal. So look at the deities worshiped besides Allaah The Almighty, you will know how foolish and ignorant are those who worshiped them!
Worship of Shytaan (Satan):
Shytaan is the origin and source of every form of Shirk (associating partners with Allaah The Almighty in worship). Moreover, he is the planner and builder of it as a whole. So any worshiped matter other than Allaah The Almighty is a Shytaan and any form of worship ascribed to other than Allaah The Almighty is a kind of worship of Shytaan.
Allaah The Almighty says: {Did I not enjoin upon you, O children of Adam, that you not worship Shytaan (Satan) - [for] indeed, he is to you a clear enemy. And that you worship [only] Me? This is a straight path.} [Yaa-Seen: 60-61]
He is the one who planted the tree of Shirk and any form of Shirk is one of its wicked fruits and every branch of it is just one of its bad traces.
Allaah The Almighty says: {And the example of a bad word is like a bad tree, uprooted from the surface of the earth, not having any stability.} [Ibraaheem: 26]
Then there is no difference between the matters worshiped instead of Allaah The Almighty such as the atom and galaxy and the greatest king or smallest insect. All of them are just slaves of Allaah The Almighty and all forms of worship that are ascribed to other than Allaah The Almighty are Shirk whether it is a sent messenger or illustrious angel. All forms of worship that are ascribed to other than Allaah The Almighty are for the Shytaan.
Some people worship stones[1]:
The people of Nooh (Noah), peace be upon him, worship the idols. Such idols were for righteous men. When they passed away, they made statues for them. Then the later generations that followed them worshiped such idols. Allaah The Almighty says about the people of Nooh: {And said, 'Never leave your gods and never leave Wadd or Suwa' or Yaghuth and Ya'uq and Nasr. And already they have misled many. And, [my Lord], do not increase the wrongdoers except in error.}[Nooh: 23-24]
Also, the people of Ibraaheem, peace be upon him, (did the same):
Allaah The Almighty says about Ibraaheem, peace be upon him: {When he said to his father and his people, "What do you worship?" They said, "We worship idols and remain to them devoted." He said, "Do they hear you when you supplicate? Or do they benefit you, or do they harm?" They said, "But we found our fathers doing thus.} [Ash-Shu‘araa’: 70-74]
Also, Arabs did the same in Jaahiliyyah(pre-Islamic period of ignorance):
Allaah The Almighty says: {So have you considered Al-Lat and al-‘Uzza? And Manaat, the third - the other one?} [An-Najm: 19-20]
It was narrated that Abu Rajaa’ Al-‘Ataaridi said: In the pre-Islam period of ignorance we used to worship the stone if we found a stone better than it we throw it (old one) and take the other (new one). If we did not find a stone, then we collect some dust and bring sheep and milk on it and then circumambulate around it.”[2]
Jews loves the worshiping of idols:
Such is the nature of the Jews in all times. They do not believe in the unseen and do not worship any lord except what they desires will.
Allaah The Almighty says: {And We took the Children of Israel across the sea; then they came upon a people intent in devotion to [some] idols of theirs. They said, "O Moses, make for us a god just as they have gods." He said, "Indeed, you are a people behaving ignorantly.} [Al-A‘raaf: 138]
The Far East in the modern age worships “the idol of Buddha”:
This is an idol that hundreds of millions of human beings worship and make a pilgrimage to it every year. Moreover, they prostrate, bow, present gifts, circumambulate around it glorifying it and establish festivals and feasts to it. They made a great statute for it in their temples and public squares and do not allow anyone to touch it and no one can enter up it except bowing.
Glory be to Allaah! They created the statues with their hands and then worshiped them:
It cannot be said to those people and those who are like them except what Ibraaheem, peace be upon him, said to his people: {He said, "Do you worship that which you [yourselves] carve while Allah created you and that which you do?} [As-Saafaat: 95-96]
Some people worship the idols:
Idol refers to everything that has a craved shape such as idols or does not have a craved shape. Allaah The Almighty says: {So avoid the uncleanliness of idols and avoid false statement.} [Al-Hajj: 30][3]
Glorifying shrines and graves make them idols:
All things that are glorified such as stones, idols, graves, shrines are idols. Furthermore, whoever seeks blessings from them, circumambulates around them, sacrifices for them and makes vows for them has committed Shirk. This is exactly what the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, feared that the ignorant and misguided people to do with his grave. So he, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “O Allaah! Let not my grave be turned into a worshipped idol.”[4]
Cow:
Many of the countries of Asia and Indians worship and glorify cows. They are the sect of Hindus. They glorify it and do not slaughter it. In addition, they have a ministry in India called “the ministry of cows”. Every minister is obliged to raise a cow in his house. No one of them can dare to do something bad to the cow. “Once, a cow slept in the way. So it caused a traffic jam for 12 hours and no one was brave enough to drive it away from the way.” Their glorification to the cow reached the extent that their Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi said: “My mother, the cow is more beloved to me than my mother that gave birth to me.”
Jews are more wicked than the Indians:
They are the first to worship the cows when they took a calf from gold; it was an inanimate idol.
Allaah The Almighty says: {And the people of Moses made, after [his departure], from their ornaments a calf - an image having a lowing sound. Did they not see that it could neither speak to them nor guide them to a way? They took it [for worship], and they were wrongdoers.} [Al-A‘raaf: 148]
He The Almighty also says: {And their hearts absorbed [the worship of] the calf because of their disbelief.} [Al-Baqarah: 93]
Trees[5]:
The polytheists in Jahiliyyah used to worship a tree of Nabk that was called ‘Thaat Anwaat’ and seek its blessings:
It was narrated that Abu Waaqid Al-Laythi, may Allaah be pleased with him, said: We went out from Makkah with the Messenger of Allaah, peace and blessings be upon him, to Hunayn and we were new in Islam (at that time). The polytheists had a tree to which they would go and spend time (to seek blessings) and they used to hang their weapons on it, and it was called Thaaat Anwaat. We passed by a large tree of Nabk and we said: ‘O Messenger of Allaah, make for us a Thaaat Anwaat.’ The Messenger of Allaah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: ‘Allahu Akbar, These are ways that you will certainly follow. By the One in Whose hand is my soul, you have said the same as the Children of Israel said to Moosa: ‘Make for us a god as they have gods.’ He then said: “Verily you are a people who know not.”[6]
Even the insects and the mice:
Statistics in India have revealed that the numbers of religions adopted by people are 2000 religions and their adherents speak 200 languages. Amongst such deities are:
Insects: Such sect does not harm any insect and take the intensive precautions against that. They, even, do not wear clothes in summer or winter so that insects may not attach to them. Every one of them has something like the feather of the ostriches to clean under his feet in every step he takes in order not to kill an insect under the dust. If an insect was killed, they abstain from eating and drinking, and punish themselves severely for the death of their gods.
As for the mice[7]: In India, there is a temple of a great building which is built in the best style. It also has some of invaluable antiquities and a wide garden that is filled with unique plants. Presents are presented to such temple, sacrifices slaughtered for it, vows of gold and silver are made to it. What remains to know is that what is worshiped in such temple are just “mice”.
Glory be to Allaah! How this is far from the greatness and majesty of Allaah The Almighty who says: {They have not appraised Allah with true appraisal, while the earth entirely will be [within] His grip on the Day of Resurrection, and the heavens will be folded in His right hand. Exalted is He and high above what they associate with Him.} [Az-Zumar: 67]
How truthful is the saying of the one who said about them:
Are there any minds being sold in the markets so that I may get some for those people?
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[1]Amongst the forms of worshiping stones and rocks are “Darb Al-Wada‘ (hitting sea-shells), Washwasht Al-Wada‘(whispering to sea-shells), and putting stones on the earth so that the pregnant women or the woman who gave birth recently can walk from above them, believing that this will protect her and her child, or that the woman may pass over it so that she may have children. They are mere stones that have neither benefit nor harm.
[2] Reported by Al-Bukhaari and refer to Al-‘Aqeedah filallaah by Prof: ‘Umar Sulaimaan Al-Ashqar (289).
[3]Fat-h Al-Majeed (71).
[4] Reported by Maalik in Al-Muwatta’, book of Prayer, chapter of Prayer No. (261), Ibn Abi Shaibah in Al-Musannaf (3/345) and Ahmad reported something like that in Al-Musanad (2/346).
[5] Also, trees are worshiped in the modern time. In Egypt, there is a tree named: Tree of Mariam. Barren women go to it and seek its blessings and make vows to it in ordered to be give children. Have they not heard the saying of Allaah The Almighty: {He gives to whom He wills female [children], and He gives to whom He wills males. Or He makes them [both] males and females, and He renders whom He wills barren. Indeed, He is Knowing and Competent.} [Ash-Shoora: 49-50]
[6] Reported by At-Tirmithi in “Al-Jaami‘” No. (2181) and said: This is Hasan Saheeh (good and authentic) Hadeeth. It was also reported by Ahmad in Al-Musnad (5/218), Abu Ya‘la in Al-Musnad (1441) and Ibn Abi Shaibah in Al-Musanaf (15/101) and others.
[7] Excerpted from “Al-Kuwait” Newspaper. Refer to the book entitled: “‘Ulw Al-Himmah by Prof: Sayed Al-‘Ifaani.”
